live in St Mary's (2007)

The Warped Tour is, supposedly, an extremely fun time for all bands involved (unless you happen to be in the Lawrence Arms or Underoath). Fun, but grueling; thus, days off are usually spent relaxing doing non-music-related things. That is, unless you happen to be Big D and the Kids Table. No, instead of taking a day off, Big D used August 6 to play at The Edgewood in St Mary's, Pennsylvania.

I live in Pittsburgh, so this show required a three-hour drive north that seemed long until it took me through, and I swear I'm not making this up, Weedville. But that is neither here nor now.

Some construction caused me to miss the very first set and a parking spot in the main lot; however, my parking space was directly in front of Big D's bus, which I found to be awesome.

The second band was a local act, Short of Reason. They were pleasant enough, a nice pop-punk band that had some catchy enough songs.

The penultimate band was the Skunk 11, a ska band out of Pittsburgh. I, as well as probably 20 others found these guys to be a terrific opener for Big D. They had plenty of catchy riffs and good horn work. Skanking was plentiful, let me tell you. They also seemed to have a good sense of humor (set list scribbled with a drawing of the trombone player with a dick next to his mouth, a verbal mention of Weedville, and a Burger King reference). They weren't signed but had a CD that I bought and listened to. I'd advise checking out their MySpace.

Then, after what I considered a pretty short wait, Big D arrived on stage and, without missing a beat, launched into "Steady Riot." The venue looked like it is usually used for Bingo nights and fish frys, but the stage was set up in the corner and there were probably a little over 100 kids in attendance, which set up a nice atmosphere. The set was comprised of a little over 50% new material, but that should not be considered a bad thing. Big D is, to me, one of the greatest live bands touring today. Their songs are played basically identical to the recorded versions and the set is ripped through at a blistering pace. Also, the new material, which leans more towards dub rather than the older ska-punk, provided nice, mellow breaks.

It was amazing that the day they had off, Big D played a show in the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania, but I'm not complaining. And I can't wait to see them again in two days at the Pittsburgh Warped stop [review submitted a week ago], even though it will only be for half an hour.

Oh, and kudos to the "security guards", or just some slightly above-average built dudes. They did prevent any crowd surfing, but in my eyes that's good. And a few of them actually seemed to be into the music, with one actually getting into the pit during "LAX," so that was right on.